Cabaero: Correct disaster aid imbalance

WHAT would change in disaster response in the country under a President who comes from the provinces?

That areas far from the seat of government will get the same level of resources as when a disaster strikes the nation’s capital.

Several countries held activities last October 13 to mark the International Day for Disaster Reduction. Purpose of the declaration by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction was to encourage countries to create awareness about actions to reduce mortality and improve health outcomes from disasters.

Pakistan opened heatstroke centers to bring down the death toll from heatwaves which killed over 1,000 people last year. Canada created fire risk maps to ensure safe evacuation in fire-prone areas or designating areas as unsafe for human habitation. Several governments agreed to equip up to 80 countries with better climate risk early warning systems. These were among the examples of ways to improve how people are becoming more risk informed, according to the office’s website at www.unisdr.org.

In the Philippines, October 15, Saturday, marked the three years since the magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit Cebu and Bohol. The temblor damaged P2.257 billion in property. It killed 227 persons, 214 of them in Bohol. Cebu City regulators said there are more rules and better monitoring of construction happening now than three years ago, or on Oct. 15, 2013, when the earthquake struck.

I was on study leave abroad when the earthquake happened and I remembered it was excruciating to be away from loved ones when there was an emergency at home. I was on a five-hour bus ride when I learned of the earthquake minutes after it struck. I was lucky to have mobile connection and an application that grouped family members for easy communication.

Days later, there were news reports of resources from the capital in Manila not reaching the disaster areas. There were reports of victims feeling that, because they live in the periphery, they are not a priority of national government. It seemed distribution of resources was marked by an imbalance, with more resources going to Metro Manila if a disaster hit there than if the calamity happened in areas far from the central government.

After that earthquake, reports said the national government admitted it could not give more or meet the demand in central Philippines because the calamity fund was almost depleted for that year. Past calamities in Metro Manila, however, saw resources immediately or urgently designated. It seemed that those in the provinces have to work harder to get to national decision-makers. If these reports were true, then President Rodrigo Duterte is in a unique position. He could correct that perception, as the first leader of the country to come from Mindanao since the republic was born in 1899 and the fourth President after 55 years from outside Luzon.

That unique position grants him the opportunity to change long-held practices in the battle for priorities, and have a more equitable distribution of resources between the capital and the provinces located in the periphery.

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